Elon Musk’s xAI faces second lawsuit over toxic pollutants from datacenter
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI is facing a second lawsuit alleging it is illegally emitting toxic pollutants from its enormous datacenters, which house its supercomputers and run the chatbot Grok,The new pending suit alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act and was filed Friday by the storied civil rights group the NAACP,The group’s 40-page notice of intent to sue alleges xAI has been polluting Black communities near its facility in Southaven, Mississippi,The pollution comes from more than a dozen portable methane gas generators that xAI set up without permits, the notice alleges,The NAACP’s first notice of intent to sue was filed last June and involves similar allegations regarding the company’s datacenter in Memphis, Tennessee.
In order to file a lawsuit under the Clean Air Act, parties must file an intent to sue notice at least 60 days prior,The NAACP’s case in Memphis did not progress toward a lawsuit after xAI obtained permits for its generators there,“As we shared when xAI began its operation in Tennessee, this illegal pollution only exacerbates complications to frontline communities who continue to bear the brunt of environmental injustice,” said Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice,“We cannot allow for companies to promise a better future while pumping harmful chemicals into the air we breathe,”xAI set up its first datacenter in Memphis in the summer of 2024.
It’s a massive facility, roughly the size of 13 football fields, and named “Colossus”.The company has since erected a second, even bigger datacenter named Colossus 2 in Southaven.The building of a third xAI datacenter, also in Southaven, just got under way last month.Southaven is in the Memphis metropolitan area, but located just over the state border in Mississippi.Community members in Southaven have complained about the noise and pollution coming from Colossus 2.
They’ve also circulated a petition demanding accountability from Mississippi regulators.The NAACP’s suit in Southaven is intended to challenge xAI’s use of unpermitted turbines.The group alleges that the company has 27 generators without permits at this facility, and it has documented more than a dozen of them being in use since last fall.Separately, a Guardian investigation published on Friday found that xAI has moved in 27 portable turbines at Colossus 2.Using thermal imagery, the Guardian concluded that 18 of those generators have been used since November.
These types of gas generators emit fine particulate matter that contains hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde and nitrogen oxide,These pollutants are tied to an increase in diseases, like asthma, respiratory illness and certain cancers,The NAACP says that xAI’s 27 turbines in Southaven have the potential to emit a “staggering amount” of nitrogen oxides, likely making the facility the largest industrial source of the chemical in the metropolitan area,Mississippi state regulators say the turbines fall under a loophole and don’t require permits because they are portable and temporary, which is how regulators in Tennessee first dealt with xAI’s generators there,But the Environmental Protection Agency maintains that such pollution sources do require permits under the Clean Air Act.
“xAI has once again built a polluting power plant without any permits and without any notice to nearby communities,” said Patrick Anderson, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is working with Earthjustice to represent the NAACP.“There are no loopholes or exceptions – xAI is breaking the law while leaving local communities to deal with the consequences.”If the intent to sue notice proceeds to litigation, the NAACP said, it is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties and costs to cover attorneys’ fees.xAI did not respond to a request for comment.
Share values of property services firms tumble over fears of AI disruption
Shares in commercial property services companies have tumbled, in the latest sell-off driven by fears over disruption from artificial intelligence.After steep declines on Wall Street, European stocks in the sector were hit on Thursday.The estate agent Savills’ shares fell 7.5% in London, while the serviced office provider International Workplace Group, which owns the Regus brand, lost 9%.The UK’s two biggest property developers, British Land and Landsec, dropped 2
Elon Musk posted about race almost every day in January
Elon Musk’s longtime fixation on a white racial majority is intensifying. The richest man in the world posted about how the white race was under threat, made allusions to race science or promoted anti-immigrant conspiracy content on 26 out of 31 days in January, according to the Guardian’s analysis of his social media output. The posts, made on his platform X, reflect a renewed embrace of what extremism experts describe as white supremacist material.“Whites are a rapidly dying minority,” Musk said on 22 January, a short time before taking the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, while reposting an Irish anti-immigrant influencer’s video about demographic change.Musk’s posts included him repeatedly claiming white people face systemic discrimination, endorsing the conspiracy that there is an ongoing genocide against white people in countries around the world and promoting a claim that white people would be “slaughtered” by non-whites if they become a demographic minority
The big AI job swap: why white-collar workers are ditching their careers
As AI job losses rise in the professional sector, many are switching to more traditional trades. But how do they feel about accepting lower pay – and, in some cases, giving up their vocation?California-based Jacqueline Bowman had been dead set on becoming a writer since she was a child. At 14 she got her first internship at her local newspaper, and later she studied journalism at university. Though she hadn’t been able to make a full-time living from her favourite pastime – fiction writing – post-university, she consistently got writing work (mostly content marketing, some journalism) and went freelance full-time when she was 26. Sure, content marketing wasn’t exactly the dream, but she was writing every day, and it was paying the bills – she was happy enough
Is it possible to develop AI without the US?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. Today in tech, we’re discussing the Persian Gulf countries making a play for sovereignty over their own artificial intelligence in response to an unstable United States. That, and US tech giants’ plans to spend more than $600bn this year alone.I spent most of last week in Doha at the Web Summit Qatar, the Gulf’s new version of the popular annual tech conference. One theme stood out among the speeches I watched and the conversations I had: sovereignty
Apple and Google pledge not to discriminate against third-party apps in UK deal
Apple and Google have committed to avoid discriminating against apps that compete with their own products under an agreement with the UK’s competition watchdog, as they avoided legally binding measures for their mobile platforms.The US tech companies have vowed to be more transparent about vetting third-party apps before letting them on their app stores and not discriminate against third-party apps in app search rankings.They have also agreed not to use data from third-party apps unfairly, such as using information about app updates to tweak their own offerings.Apple has also committed to giving app developers an easier means of requesting use of its features such as the digital wallet, and live translation for AirPod users.The commitments have been secured as part of a new regulatory regime overseen by the Competition and Markets Authority, (CMA), which has the power to impose changes on how Apple and Google operate their mobile platforms after deciding last year that they had “substantial, entrenched” market power
Beats Powerbeats Fit review: Apple’s compact workout earbuds revamped
Apple’s revamped compact workout Beats earbuds stick to a winning formula, while slimming down and improving comfort.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The new Powerbeats Fit are the direct successors to 2022’s popular Beats Fit Pro, costing £200 (€230/$200/A$330)
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